Gail Koff

Who was Gail Koff?

Gail Joanne Koff was an American lawyer who became one of the lead partners in the law firm of Jacoby & Meyers, for which she helped establish a New York City office and develop a presence in the Northeastern United States.

Koff was born in Manhattan on May 15, 1945, and was raised in Scarsdale, New York as a self-described "child of the 60s". She earned her undergraduate degree in 1966 from the University of California, Berkeley. She earned her law degree in 1969 from George Washington University Law School and worked for the Office of Economic Opportunity in the Legal Services Administration while she was still in school. She recounted being harassed as one of the law school's few female students, including an incident in which a professor told the class "'Miss Koff, would you please stand up so we can all see the dimensions of this case?" She was hired by the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom after graduating from law school.

Saying that "my main interest in the law has always been the availability of local services", she became a partner in the law firm of Jacoby & Meyers in 1979, which had been founded in California in 1972 to offer low-priced legal services to middle class clients, featuring such innovations as flat fees, acceptance of credit card payments and computerized tracking of cases. The firm became the first to advertise on television after a 1977 U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturned restrictions on advertising by attorneys. Koff had the responsibility of opening a New York office for the firm. She held a 20% stake in the firm, but was called a "silent partner" by The New York Times by staying out of the limelight occupied by the two founding partners, though she did appear holding a hair dryer in one of the firm's TV advertisements warning consumers of the risks of fraud and injury. A disagreement between the partners over the management of the firm led to a split, with Jacoby maintaining control of the firm's California offices while Koff and Meyers held onto all of the other locations.